


Show Don't Tell

by nagi_schwarz



Series: The Oppenheimer Effect [27]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: AU, Crossover, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 18:29:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6999640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Stargate Multiverse, Any OT3, revealing the secret of their relationship."</p><p>The boys of Casa Atlantica tell Tyler about the household OT3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Show Don't Tell

Rodney recognized the tree as soon as he saw it. It was the tree under which he and John had had their first date. And their one-month anniversary date and pretty much one date a month after that, because John, for all his flyboy bravado and cockiness, was a romantic at heart. So when he arrived at the park and saw a picnic blanket and basket spread out under the tree, he was confused, because Cam, JD, and Evan were all on the blanket with John. Cam was sitting propped up against Evan, JD was sprawled out on his stomach, kicking his feet idly in the air and reading a book and looking like a teenage girl out of _Grease_. And John was petting Oppie. All of them looked like the picture of Saturday morning innocence, but Rodney could see they were all a little too studied and posed, too tense. The light on Oppie’s collar flared blue every time John petted him. He was nervous.  
  
Rodney ambled over to them, sat down beside John and kissed him hello. Then he began poking around in the picnic basket. “What have we got?”  
  
“Evan baked,” JD said idly.  
  
That was an understatement. Evan had made enough pastries and treats to feed the SGC twice over, and he’d brought only a fraction of them to the park. Rodney recognized the raspberry almond bars and the almond chocolate croissants. Those recipes came in bulk.  
  
“So, how are you all doing?” Rodney asked.  
  
“Great,” they said as one. Yes, they were nervous. JD, Cam, and Evan more than John.  
  
Oppie nudged John’s hand aside and crawled across the blanket, settled onto Cam’s lap.  
  
Cam was close enough to Evan, JD and Evan were tense enough, that Oppie’s collar still flared blue when Cam pet him.  
  
The guest of honor couldn’t have arrived sooner. Tyler was small for his age, still narrow across the shoulders. He had dark skin and big dark eyes and floppy dark hair, but his face was heart-shaped and when he smiled he had dimples. He was a cute kid. When he wasn’t insinuating that John was cheating on a woman with Rodney.  
  
Tyler came speeding along the cement path on his skateboard. He hopped off it and scooped it up in a single smooth motion, practiced, and Rodney was kind of jealous. He’d always admired the daredevil skater kids when he was in high school, even if he’d never been brave enough to try to be one of them. Then he ambled across the grass and plopped down beside John, easy as you please.  
  
“So,” he said, smiling brightly, “what’s up?”  
  
He, too, was tense.  
  
Oppie abandoned Cam and scurried to hop onto Tyler’s lap.  
  
Huh.  
  
Tyler petted him once, and - his collar flared blue. Did anyone else notice? Was it because Tyler was sitting so close to John and Rodney, or…?  
  
“So, about me adopting you,” Cam said. “It doesn’t affect just me and you. It affects all of these guys, too.”  
  
Tyler nodded. “Yeah, I know. I mean, you can’t kick them all out because I’m moving in.”  
  
“Well, I’m moving in too,” Rodney said. “John and I are going to move into the basement - bigger space, bit more privacy.”  
  
“You can have my old bedroom,” John added.  
  
Tyler shrugged. “That’s cool. I mean, Doc, you practically live there anyway.”  
  
“That he does,” John said, and he squeezed Rodney’s hand.  
  
“Here’s the thing,” Cam said. “Before you make a final decision about being adopted by me, there’s something you need to know.”  
  
“I know you and Lorne are dating. Everyone at school knows. You told Principal Connors yesterday.” Tyler grinned.  
  
Evan groaned and closed his eyes. “Nothing is secret at that school!”  
  
“Listen,” Cam said, “what I’m going to tell you next has to stay secret, okay? Because people wouldn’t understand. Even if you don’t like it, if it freaks you the hell out, you’re entitled to your feelings, but you cannot tell anyone, okay?”  
  
Tyler’s expression dimmed, but he nodded. “Okay.”  
  
“Do you promise not to tell?” Cam pressed.  
  
Tyler nodded. “Yeah.”  
  
“You have to say it,” Cam said.  
  
“I promise.” Tyler was starting to look freaked out.

“Look, you’re just winding him up.” JD pushed himself up onto his paunches. “You’re over-selling it. He’s got an open mind. I’ve heard him talk about gay rights at school.”

Oppie’s collar was pulsing a steady blue. Tyler attempted another smile. “Yeah, I have an open mind.”

“Good,” JD said, leaned over, and kissed Evan.

Tyler blinked. “Wait, what? So it’s a lie? Lorne, you’re not really dating Cammie?”

JD crawled past Evan and kissed Cam.

Tyler’s eyes went round. “Oh. Oh!”

JD resumed his former pose, though he closed his book. “So now you know.”

Rodney stared at him. “Have you always been like this? I mean - Evan was raised on a hippie commune, but you’re just -”

“Celebrating my newfound freedom,” JD said pointedly.

Rodney thought back to the documentary he’d seen, of Jack O’Neill yelling at Senator Kinsey, his tirade drowned out by an off-world alarm, and maybe JD’s lack of restraint shouldn’t have been that surprising. Now he was just unrestrained about...different things.

Tyler sat back, nibbling on his bottom lip. “How long has this been going on?”

“Only a few months,” Cam said. “But it’s serious.”

“All three of you?”

“Just JD and Evan at first,” Cam said, “but now all three of us.”

Tyler stared at JD. “How old _are_ you?”

JD pursed his lips sourly for a moment. Then he said, “Nineteen.”

“That’s only two years older than me.”

“Yes,” JD said.

“Have you always…? Is it always older men?” Tyler looked at Evan and Cam. “Or is it always younger boys?”

“Neither,” JD said. “I’m not like other boys my age. I -”

Cam said, “Evan and I used to be in the Air Force. You know that.”

Tyler nodded. “And they have Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Which is stupid.”

“And hopefully being repealed soon,” John added.

“What Evan and I used to do was classified,” Cam said. “Very classified. If you come live with us, there are some things that all of us sometimes still do for the Air Force. If we tell you not to touch it, to stay away from it, you have to.”

“What does that have to do with you and...him?” Tyler nodded at JD.

“JD’s uncle is a high-ranking general who was our commanding officer,” Cam said. “So JD knows what we’ve been through.”

“How?” Tyler asked.

“That’s classified,” JD said. He sat up and caught Tyler’s gaze, held it.

Rodney couldn’t explain what it was JD did. He didn’t move, didn’t speak, but one moment he was JD, the kid with the soulful dark eyes and cocky little grin, the next he was someone else. Someone older and darker and much, much more frightening, infinitely sad but infinitely capable of joy and passion, brimming with adult confidence far beyond his years.

Tyler’s brow furrowed. He was confused. He knew he was seeing something he’d never seen before in JD, but he didn’t know what it was.

“Who _are_ you?”

“My name is Jonathan Daniel Nealson, and I love Cameron Mitchell and Evan Lorne very much,” he said quietly.

Tyler shook himself out. “Yeah. Okay. I won’t tell anyone at school, I promise. I won’t tell anyone ever, unless you say I can.”

Just like that, the tension was gone.

“Okay,” Cam said. “Let me call your caseworker.”

“She probably won’t answer on a Saturday.” Tyler reached past Rodney for the picnic basket.

Oppie abandoned Tyler and went back to cuddle with Evan, who curled an arm around Cam’s shoulders, looking a little shell-shocked.

JD elbowed Tyler out of the way with the same easy casualness he always had and said, “Wait your turn, whippersnapper. Respect your elders.”

Tyler elbowed him right back, and they started squabbling over the food.

John leaned over and kissed Rodney.

And Cam made that phone call.


End file.
